Rohingya Exodus (Ongoing)
78 images Created 20 Feb 2018
"It’s painful; walking for three consecutive day without food and water but its more heart wrenching when I think of my home, my belongings leaving behind."- Gulping a mug of water, an old Rohingya woman fled from Myanmar, was stating out her agony after reaching Lomba bill-Teknaf-Bangladesh. She is not the only one fled from there. Tens of thousands of Rohingya people had and still have making their way to Bangladesh because of the brutal situation in Myanmar.
“Rohingya” The word itself is a taboo in Myanmar. The country leaders also do not use and some asked the international community not to use it. Buddhist leaders instead refer to Rohingya as “Bengali” to root out as immigrants and foreigners from Bangladesh. They are not included among the 135 ethnic minorities officially recognized by the state. Many reports on Rohingya persecution and marginalization begin with Myanmar’s 1982 citizenship law, which stripped the country’s 1 million Rohingya of citizenship, leaving them without access to health care or education. Waves of violence soon followed.
The military calls the campaign a clearance operation against an insurgent terrorist military group. They claim the crackdown is in response to a series of armed attacks on border police by Rohingya militants on August 25 that left 12 officers dead, the second such type of attacks in the past 12 months. Following the incident, Myanmar authorities have reportedly cracked down on the Rohingya community, which the United Nations believes may amount to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority group. Observers say that though armed Rohingya insurgents exist, their overall numbers are small, and they are poorly equipped. And the crackdown has affected the entire ethnic group. In what, it has quickly disintegrated into a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions, a staggering 5lacs Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh over the weeks. At least 3.4lacs of them are children. Hearing really dreadful stories of people from enormous number of very young, and very traumatized Rohingya refugees who have survived somehow. Among those fleeing Myanmar, are many pregnant women who have been walking for three, four, or even five days to find safety. Many bringing stories of systematic rape, murder and arson at the hands of Myanmar soldiers. Entire villages have been burnt to the ground. Rohingya refugees report that soldiers shot at them as they fled.
The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, do not qualify for Myanmar citizenship even though many have lived there for generations. The army insists they are interlopers from across the border in Bangladesh. But Rohingyas are saying they have lived there for generations after generations and they never ever were in Bangladesh. They surely are not the people from No Man's Land. Then who are they? What is their existence?
“Rohingya” The word itself is a taboo in Myanmar. The country leaders also do not use and some asked the international community not to use it. Buddhist leaders instead refer to Rohingya as “Bengali” to root out as immigrants and foreigners from Bangladesh. They are not included among the 135 ethnic minorities officially recognized by the state. Many reports on Rohingya persecution and marginalization begin with Myanmar’s 1982 citizenship law, which stripped the country’s 1 million Rohingya of citizenship, leaving them without access to health care or education. Waves of violence soon followed.
The military calls the campaign a clearance operation against an insurgent terrorist military group. They claim the crackdown is in response to a series of armed attacks on border police by Rohingya militants on August 25 that left 12 officers dead, the second such type of attacks in the past 12 months. Following the incident, Myanmar authorities have reportedly cracked down on the Rohingya community, which the United Nations believes may amount to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority group. Observers say that though armed Rohingya insurgents exist, their overall numbers are small, and they are poorly equipped. And the crackdown has affected the entire ethnic group. In what, it has quickly disintegrated into a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions, a staggering 5lacs Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh over the weeks. At least 3.4lacs of them are children. Hearing really dreadful stories of people from enormous number of very young, and very traumatized Rohingya refugees who have survived somehow. Among those fleeing Myanmar, are many pregnant women who have been walking for three, four, or even five days to find safety. Many bringing stories of systematic rape, murder and arson at the hands of Myanmar soldiers. Entire villages have been burnt to the ground. Rohingya refugees report that soldiers shot at them as they fled.
The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, do not qualify for Myanmar citizenship even though many have lived there for generations. The army insists they are interlopers from across the border in Bangladesh. But Rohingyas are saying they have lived there for generations after generations and they never ever were in Bangladesh. They surely are not the people from No Man's Land. Then who are they? What is their existence?
